


You, and Me, and a Dog (Makes Three)

by gilligankane



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Sanders gets a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 20:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12661215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilligankane/pseuds/gilligankane
Summary: “We’re sure about this,” Alex says, her voice lifting, turning her assurance into a question.Maggie turns them toward each other, both her hands smoothing lines up and down Alex’s arms. “Life’s too short, right?”“Kiss the girls we want to kiss. Get the dogs we want to get,” Alex recites. She nods, straightening her shoulders and grabbing Maggie’s hand again.Maggie grins widely. “Then let’s go get a dog, Danvers.”





	You, and Me, and a Dog (Makes Three)

**Author's Note:**

> For Mrs. Smurf, who needs something to smile about today.
> 
> (Excuse the cheesy title)

Alex reaches down, lacing her fingers through Maggie’s. She’s nervous, even if they’ve talked this through every night for the last few weeks. A thousand worries race through her mind: What if she forgets to feed it? What if it chews through her couch? What if it gets loose and out the door and into the middle of traffic?

_ God _ , Kara is practically a puppy, and Alex has managed to mess  _ her _ up more than a few times. 

Maggie looks over at her, squeezing her hand gently and smiling softly. “You ready?”

“We’re sure about this,” Alex says, her voice lifting, turning her assurance into a question. 

Maggie turns them toward each other, both her hands smoothing lines up and down Alex’s arms. “Life’s too short, right?”

“Kiss the girls we want to kiss. Get the dogs we want to get,” Alex recites. She nods, straightening her shoulders and grabbing Maggie’s hand again.

Maggie grins widely. “Then let’s go get a dog, Danvers.”

They push through the doors of National City’s dog shelter, immediately overwhelmed by the sound of barking. Alex looks at Maggie and laughs.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?”

Maggie’s eyes are wide and worried, but she gives Alex something like a reassuring smile. “We’re only taking one home, right?” Her smiles fades quickly. “Right?”

Alex laughs and pulls Maggie close, kissing her softly. “Right. I mean, we already have Kara and Winn. Adding a puppy to that is more than enough.” 

The barking gets louder as a door behind the counter opens. Someone with a bright red shirt on smiles widely at them.

“Hi there. How can I help?”

Alex looks at Maggie one last time. “We’re here to look at some puppies,” she says when Maggie nods at her.

“You’ve got good timing,” the volunteer says. “Lots of our puppies just finished their shots and are ready to go.” The volunteer hands them a form. “If you end up finding a puppy you like, you’ll need to fill this out, so just hold onto it for now.”

Alex folds it twice and slips it into her back pocket. 

“Are you looking for anything in particular?” the volunteer asks.

Maggie shrugs. “I’ve never had a dog before,” she says. Alex hasn’t either. “A breed we can train easily, probably.”

“We just have to go through the older dogs room to get to the puppies,” the shelter volunteer explains. “But we have some very cute border collies that are nearly ready to go home. They’re easy to train, and loyal. But they need exercise.”

Alex nods. “We’re both active people.”

The volunteer nods. “Good. Well, let’s go.”

Alex squeezes Maggie’s hand excitedly.

The volunteer pulls open a door to a quieter room, the lighting softer here. Alex’s heart sinks a little as she scans the cages: they’re older dogs, out of their puppy phases. Most of them don’t even acknowledge Alex and Maggie, simply closing their eyes and going back to sleep. There’s a door at the end of the long hallway that the shelter volunteer is pointing to.

“It’s just through there.”

They’re nearly at the door when something inside Alex shouts at her to stop. She pauses in front of the last cage in the row, peering through the darkness. The lighting isn’t as bright all the way down the hall, and the other cages cast a shadow on this one. 

“Is there a dog in here?” she asks, not sure.

The volunteer pauses and doubles back, looking at the small flyer on the inside of the cage. “Oh, yeah, there is. That dog is… difficult.

Maggie’s hand twitches in Alex’s.

Alex peers into the darkness, making out a thin dog with turned down ears. “What kind of dog?

The shelter volunteer sighs. “She’s a mix. Blue Heeler and German Shorthaired Pointer.”

Alex crouches down, wrapping the fingers of her free hand around the chainlink door separating her from the dog hiding in the corner. “How long has she been here?”

“Uh,” the volunteer says. “I started a few months ago. She was here before that. I’m not really sure how long.”

Maggie’s hand twitches again. Alex stands up, stepping back. The volunteer sighs, obviously relieved that they can move on.

“I have some apartment-sized dogs in the next room,” the volunteer says, stepping towards the door a few feet away. 

Alex squeezes Maggie’s hand tightly, keeping her in place as the volunteer moves away. Maggie looks at her, studying her face for a moment. Alex nods minutely, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. 

Maggie looks at the volunteer. “Can we meet her?”

The volunteer pauses. “Are you sure? Like I said, she’s difficult. She doesn’t like most people. Most people don’t like her.”

Maggie rests a hand on the locking mechanism of the cage. “We’re not most people,” she says, her voice tight. 

“Okay,” the volunteer huffs. She unlocks the door and pulls the chain link door open, the hinge creaking. The dog inside whimpers and Alex can hear sharp nails scratching against the linoleum floor as the dog tries to get away from them. 

Alex immediately drops to her knees, letting go of Maggie’s hand. The scratching stops. Alex can see the dog more clearly now, and something in her chest aches. She holds out one hand, her arm straining with the stretch. She can feel Maggie at her back, kneeling down next to her. 

“Wow,” Maggie breathes out. “She’s…”

“Gorgeous,” Alex finishes, her voice just as soft. 

The dog is sitting in the far corner, large but thin. It tips its head slightly, studying them. Her ears are large, but turned down. Her face is all German Shepard but her fur is Blue Heeler, spotted and short. 

Alex inches her hand forward. The dog leans in, curious. Its snout twitches as it sniffs the air. She starts to settle into a laying position, her nose still moving as she gets closer to Alex’s hand. Alex lowers herself to the ground until their nearly eye to eye, nose to nose. The dog whimpers softly, but doesn’t move away.

Maggie’s hand is on the small of her back, a warm, reassuring weight. She scratches soft lines through her t-shirt. “What’s her name?” she asks the volunteer.

“We call her Shadow,” the volunteer says.

Alex lays flat on the floor, resting one hand under her chin. The dog has wide, amber eyes that don’t blink as they roam Alex’s face, taking in everything. Alex smiles softly and the dog blinks. 

“You’re not a shadow, are you?” Alex asks in a whisper. “What about something else, huh? What about Gertrude?”

The dog’s ears twitch softly.

“Gert?” Alex tries.

The dog inches closer, their noses nearly touching.

Alex can feel Maggie at her back, her hand trembling. “Gertie?” Alex asks.

The dog licks her face.

Alex looks at Maggie over her shoulder. “This one.”

Maggie pulls her bottom lip in. “Are you sure, Alex? She’s not a puppy. She’s…  _ big _ .” Maggie’s eyes scan the chainlink. She spots the small information card and stands up to read it. “She’s 38 pounds big. And nearly 4-years-old.”

Alex turns back to look the dog in the eyes. “She’s  _ ours _ .”

Maggie sighs softly. “Well, then she’s ours.” Maggie kneels down next to her and cautiously reaches a hand out towards the dog. It licks her, then noses into her hand until Maggie’s fingertips are scratching at the space between her eyes.

The shelter volunteer hesitates. “Are you sure? Those border collie puppies are-”

“We’re sure,” Maggie says firmly. She pulls the folded paper out of Alex’s back pocket. “Do you have a pen?”

Alex stays on the floor as Maggie follows the volunteer back towards the front desk. She props her chin up on both hands. The dog inches closer and licks her cheek, then her nose.

“Gertie,” Alex repeats. “Hi, Gertie. You wanna go home?”

Gertie crawls forward, nosing against Alex’s cheek. She licks at Alex’s face, across her nose and into her ear. Alex laughs and tries to roll away, but Gertie follows, pawing at her gently and chasing after Alex as she rolls around the caged area. 

When Alex finally looks up, Maggie is leaning against the entryway, her arms crossed and a smile on her face. “Are you two ready to go?”

Alex pops up onto her knees. “I am.”

Maggie hands her a bright blue and white collar. Alex takes it and holds it out in front of her body. “This is for you,” she tells Gertie, her voice soft. 

Gertie sits still as Alex winds it around her neck and buckles it, adjusting the size. Maggie passes Alex a matching leash that clips onto the collar easily.  Alex reaches back a second time and grabs for Maggie’s hand, standing up slowly. She looks at Gertie, winding the leash around her wrist.. “Well, what do you say, girl? You want to go home?”

Gertie’s ears twitch again.

“Home?” Alex asks again.

Gertie’s ears stand up tall.

“Let’s go home,” Alex says.

Gertie starts out of the cage at a trot, pausing when she gets too far ahead of Alex and the leash pulls. She sits and waits until they catch up to her and then she walks ahead of them easily, the leash loose between them. When they get out onto the sidewalk, Gertie hesitates, shrinking back against Alex and Maggie’s legs.

Maggie reaches down and rubs a hand behind Gertie’s ears. “It’s okay, girl. You’re with us.”

Gertie looks up, ears pitched high as she listens to Maggie’s voice.

“Come on. The car is right here,” Maggie continues. She points across the parking lot. “Come on. There’s a big back seat with your name on it.”

When they get to the DEO-issued SUV, Alex opens the back passenger door. Gertie jumps in easily, stepping up onto the seat. Alex winds her leash around the seatbelt catch and buckles it against the seat.

“Titanium” is on the radio when Maggie starts the car.

“ _...bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away _ .”

They pull out of the parking lot and get on the highway, headed towards their apartment. They’ll have to stop at the pet store, and probably Catco so Kara can meet Gertie. They’ll need to get food and a dog bed and some chew toys and maybe even a copy of “Dog Training for Dummies” to read in bed.

But for now, they’re just a new family, driving home.

Alex reaches across the console for Maggie’s hand, resting on the gearshift. Maggie turns her hand over, thumb brushing across the silver ring on Alex’s left hand. For a second, Alex can’t breathe, overwhelmed. She’s marrying Maggie. She’s marrying Maggie and they’re looking at houses and they got a dog and for the first in her entire life, Alex feels like she has a place where she fits. A place to call hers. A place where what she wants and what she deserves and what she has are all the same thing. 

Gertie barks in the backseat, the sound rattling Alex out of her own thoughts.

Maggie laughs. “I think she wants the windows down,” she says.

Alex looks over her shoulder. Gertie is sitting near the window, nosing at the glass. There’s already smudges from her nose and tongue. Alex laughs and reaches back with her free hand, fumbling to find the window control. She manages to press it hard enough to get the window to move down just about halfway, plenty of space for Gertie to stick her nose out the window.

In the side view mirror, Alex can see Gertie hanging out of the window, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, her eyes closed, her short fur blowing back in the breeze. Maggie squeezes her hand softly. 

“ _ Fire away, fire away _ ,” she sings softly. 


End file.
